


Fan Fiction Themed Murder Mystery

by Smallfatbird



Category: Original Work
Genre: AO3 Tags - Freeform, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Gen, Murder Mystery, Tropes, fan fiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-14
Updated: 2019-10-14
Packaged: 2020-12-16 04:57:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21030617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Smallfatbird/pseuds/Smallfatbird
Summary: A murder mystery for anyone to use. This is Fan Fic/AO3 themed. Enjoy!





	1. Characters and Instructions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to print this and edit for your own purposes. I wrote this for my friends and had a lot of fun playing, so enjoy.

This is a murder mystery I wrote that is fan fiction themed. There are 14 characters plus the person running the party. 

It is set in a coffee shop, so like a coffee shop AU. The first murder is a non player character, so everyone gets to be involved in that and the subsequent clues. If a player character gets murdered, they can come back as a patron. They won't get additional clues, but they can contribute to speculation as they don't have any insider information on who did it. 

The murderer knows they are the murderer and I let them know their victims and motivation so they could defend themselves better during the game. 

Player characters are told at the beginning the murderer could be working with their partner(s), but they will not be working with anyone else. The person running the party is not the murderer. 

To end the game, I told everyone when the last clue had been given. When they had a guess as to who did it and the majority agreed, the cops would arrive and take the presented evidence and the 'guilty' person. If the group was right they would be convicted and the majority won. If they were wrong the 'guilty' party would be taken in for questioning and later be released, and the murderer would win. 

Here are the characters and the cards I printed and gave to the players. 

This is the invite I sent to my players:

**You are invited to this year’s murder mystery on October 12th at 7pm. The setting is Coffee Shop AU. Everyone has been assigned a character trope, which is enclosed. You don’t need to bring anything but yourself. There will be coffee, tea, and pastries (including vegan options). Feel free to dress up and make up a name/gender for your character if you want. **

**When everyone gets there and grabs something from the coffee shop, we will begin. **

**I am going to be the manager of the coffee shop. I am not a player. I’ll be telling the story and giving instructions. The first murder victim won’t be a player. As players die, they can come back as background patrons and follow the rest of the mystery, but won’t have clues. They won’t know who killed them, so they can still offer thoughts on who the murderer could be. **

**I’m looking forward to this murder, and we’ll see you there! **

**Characters and Descriptions of Players**

-Barista and Baker (2) 

-Poly triad that are roommates. (3)

\- Tattoo artist and Florist (2)

\- Doctor and their accident prone partner (they met in the ER) (2) +Firefighter they are dating.(1)

\- Mob boss and their (good and kind)(not mob) lawyer (2) 

\- A history professor and their rival professor’s TA (2) 

**You are the Barista **

They are in college and working at this coffee shop part time. They flirt with the baker and make up stories with them about the various patrons’ love lives. They enjoy seeing other relationships develop and the free pasties the Baker gives them. 

(They are friends with the Tattoo Artist)

**You are the Baker **

They started working in this coffee shop 2 years ago. They eventually want to own their own bakery, but for now this is good. They like the barista and the two of them spend their down time flirting and speculating about the various patrons’ love lives. Later in the day when they are done baking, they spend their time bringing people their orders and chatting with regulars and the barista. 

(They are friends with the Florist) 

**You are the Tattoo Artist **

When the Florist opened a shop across the street, the Tattoo Artist thought some flowers would look nice in their own shop. They started getting fresh flowers every week for the shop and more for their house as an excuse to talk to the Florist. The Florist finally asked them out on a date after a couple months. Now they are engaged. 

(They used to date the musician. It was a mutual breakup)

(They are friends with the Barista)

**You are the Florist **

When they opened their shop, this heavily tattooed biker-looking person came in and bought a bunch of wildflowers and very obviously flirted. They proceeded to be a giant dork and came in every day to “look around”. The two of them would talk for a while and the Tattoo artist would leave with something random. They eventually started dating and now they are engaged. 

(They are friends with the Baker) 

**You are the Professor **

They are a young professor of history at the local University. They were asked to look over the work of a rival Professor’s TA, and they fell in love. They are dating semi-secretly as to not upset the TA’s professor when the TA only has a year left of grad school.

(You know who the first murder victim is. Their name is Arthur Clark) 

**You are the TA**

They needed another set of eyes to review their paper on weird popes. They asked the young new professor in the department, even though their boss hates them. They spent a lot of time talking to the professor, and after the Professor was finished reviewing their paper, they asked the TA out on a date. They have been dating for the past few months. 

(They are friends with Roommate 3 (the Artist))

**You are the (medical) Doctor**

They work in the ER and the same person kept coming in for various cuts and head injuries. After checking no make sure they weren’t in any trouble and that they were just a clumsy idiot, the Doctor promised them a nice date if they could go a month without hurting themselves. They did and proceeded to fall into a lake on their date. The Doctor fell in love, and now they are married. The two of them are dating The Firefighter.

(You regularly treat the Mob Boss and their employees) 

**You are the Accident Prone Idiot**

They pride themselves on being a handyman around the house, but are constantly injuring themselves with power tools and falling off ladders. The upside was they kept getting treated by a really hot doctor. After a challenge from the doctor to not get hurt again, they started dating, even after a disaster of a first date. Now they are married. The two of them are dating The Firefighter. 

(Went to college and was friends with Roommate 1. Roommate 1 was tired of being their personal nurse and they drifted apart) 

**You are the Firefighter **

They responded to two kitchen fires in a week at the same house. That was how they met Doctor and Accident Prone Idiot. They gave them their phone number to call if there are any more problems. They started having dinner together and hanging out, and now they are dating. 

(They used to date the Lawyer, but the Lawyer got into some shady stuff, so they broke up) 

**You are the Mob Boss **

They run the local mob Slash. They run the city’s underground in a strict, but fair way. After noticing a lawyer snooping around one of their apartment properties they confront them. The Lawyer was trying to help some tenants with a landlord who was overcharging them and not fixing anything. The mob boss liked how kind and snarky they were, and fixed the problem -they are both chaotic good. They started dating and now live together. 

(Knows Doctor; has been treated by them) 

(They use Roommate 3 as an art dealer/appraiser)

**You are the Lawyer**

After meeting the local Mob boss when trying to help some disenfranchised tenants, they were pleasantly surprised when the Mob boss fixed the situation. They were even more surprised when they started helping on other cases, no favors asked. They started dating and for the most part ignore the occasional illegal nonsense as long as there is a net good effect- they are both chaotic good. 

(They used to date the Firefighter, but broke up when they got involved with the mob) 

**You are Roommate 1 (Nurse)**

They answered an online add for a needed roommate and met two creative and fun friends. They started liking both of them in a romantic way, but didn’t do anything about it because they were obviously both in love with each other. After half a year, during a power outage facilitated living room camping night, the three of them got together. 

(Went to college and was friends with Accident Prone Idiot.. They were tired of being their personal nurse and they drifted apart) 

**You are Roommate 2 (Musician) **

They were childhood friends with Roommate 3 and they decided to move in together after college. They needed another roommate for rent and met Roommate 1 through an online ad. They both had a crush on Roommate 1 on top of pining for each other. During a power outage induced living room camping night, the three of them got together. 

(Used to date the Tattoo Artist. It was a mutual breakup)

**  
** **You are Roommate 3 (Artist/ Gallery curator)**

They were childhood friends with Roommate 2 and they decided to move in together after college. They needed another roommate for rent and met Roommate 1 through an online ad. They both had a crush on Roommate 1 on top of pining for each other. During a power outage induced living room camping night, the three of them got together. 

(They have worked with Mob Boss to insure/appraise paintings for money storage. Roommates don’t know.) 

(They are friends with the TA)


	2. Script

**The person running the party is the Manager of the Coffee shop**

**Bullets are clues. If there is not a character before the clue, it could go to anyone. **

**Who done it-** The TA. They were angry and tired. 

They think that if they kill the author things will get better. 

The TA never wanted to be a TA. It's exhausting and while they did get to meet their Professor, it really hasn’t been worth it. They aren’t even very interested in history. 

They found out the author is responsible for writing their life when they read about it on AO3. Every player is a character in the Author's fanfics. 

The TA want to make their own life choices, so they poison the Author. 

The Professor knew they poisoned the author and with the police coming they couldn't risk getting caught. 

Someone from the kitchen could have seen them take the knife, or evidence could have been left, so better just blow that up and scatter the blame while they're at it. 

  
  


Scene I 

It is a chilly fall day and the coffee shop is busy. There are various people here. Some are hunkered down, focused on their laptops. Most of the patrons are with their various partners. One writer in the corner gets up and goes to the bathroom, but no one pays them any attention. There are pastries and drinks to buy, and eyes to stare lovingly into. The writer gets back and continues writing. They sip their coffee, pick at their muffin, and stare at their computer. After a few minutes they start coughing. They close their laptop and get up to go get water, but they don’t make it very far. They fall over and stop breathing. Everyone stops. 

The Manager goes over and checks the writer’s pulse. They are dead. The Manager calls 9-1-1. 

**Manager: “Hello, a patron started coughing, fell over, and has died. Can you send someone to help. OK, ok. Got it. Ok. Thank you” **

The police and ambulances are all busy because aliens have kidnapped the mayor and some pyrotechnic villain is burning a bank. They will take at least an hour to get to the coffee shop and no one is allowed to leave until they get here. We have your credit card info and face on the security camera. 

  * Doctor and Nurse- There isn’t any inflammation, so it isn’t likely that this is an allergy attack. It seems like the symptoms of a poisoning. 
  * Firefighter- You know this person. Their house burned down last month in what was declared arson. They never discovered who did it. (september 19th, around 10 pm)

\-------Roommates have an alibi (vacation), as does the Doctor, Lawyer, and Baker and Barista (working). The other couples (TA/Prof, Tattoo/Florist) say they were together at the time, but that doesn’t really prove anything. 

  * You check the writer’s laptop and there is a lock screen that needs a pin number. Probably a 4 digit number. 
  * When you go to throw away your cup and there is a small, medical looking vial in the trash. You point this out to the rest of the patrons and use a napkin to pick it up. 
  * The Lawyer- There aren’t any fingerprints on the vial. We should put it in a plastic bag anyway. 
  * Baker- There is only one camera here and it is pointed at the cash register. The writer wasn’t in the view of the camera. 

***-Give time for speculation-*** 

The murderer was in the coffee shop. 

***If the group wants to check the camera footage, It shows everyone checking out. The cup wasn't poisoned at the counter. The writer checked out/arrived about half an hour ago. Roommates, Professor and TA, and the Lawyer were already at the coffee shop. Everyone else checked out after the Writer. 

Scene II

The Professor goes to the bathroom. The TA goes with them to make sure they’re ok because someone here is a murderer. A second later there is a scream and the TA runs out.

  * ****TA- Someone was waiting in the bathroom. He stabbed the Professor and climbed out the window. He wasn’t someone who was already here. The killer was a tall skinny white man with brown curly hair and a mustache. ****

In the bathroom the Professor is laying on the ground in a puddle of their blood. There is a knife in their back. 

There is a noise from one of the stalls. The Florist was in the stall when the murder happened. 

-Florist- They heard two people come in the bathroom and a door slam. There was a grunt, a gasp, and a scuffle. Then a thud you assume was the body hitting the floor. Then a grunt and the sound of what you assume was the window being opened. Then someone ran out, you assume the TA. You never looked, just pulled your feet up and went quiet. 

-TA- You didn’t know the Florist was in the stall. They don’t contradict you though. 

***-Give time for speculation-*** 

  * The knife has a symbol on the handle.- stylized s
  * The tattoo artist- the symbol is the same one that is from the local mob. A lot of people come in to get that as a tattoo. 
  * The lawyer- the mob boss has the same tattoo. (you don’t have to share this information)
  * the mob boss-You have the same tattoo. (you don’t have to share this information)

***-Give time for speculation, leave the bathroom if everyone is still hanging out there-***

  * The mob boss- The murderer described isn’t someone they have working for them. The mob doesn't hire white guys, they’re too violent. They also have never met this professor person, or the writer. The mob boss has their knife on them. And their gun. And their backup knife. They aren’t the same kind of knife, the one that stabbed the professor looks like a kitchen knife. 
  * Mob mob boss to roommate 3- We work together, you know me. You know this isn’t how I deal with problems. 
  * The symbol on the knife is drawn on in sharpie as opposed to carved into the knives the mob boss took out. 
  * (this clue can go to 2 people) Roommate 3 and Tattoo Artist both have a sketchbook and a pencil bag on them. There probably is/was a sharpie in there. 

***-Give time for speculation-***

Scene III 

Manager- There is an explosion from the kitchen. The microwave exploded. Glass shards/ shrapnel from the door killed the baker.

  * The Firefighter-Someone put metal in the microwave, The metal was a set of nice cufflinks.
  * (this clue can go to 2 people) The people in a suit here are Roommate 3 and the Lawyer. Neither of them are wearing cufflinks. 
  * Mob Boss- The Lawyer wasn’t wearing cufflinks.
  * Roommate 3- You were wearing cufflinks, but took off your jacket and put it over the chair when you got here. The cufflinks are now missing. You didn’t do it. (you can tell the truth or lie to avoid suspicion) 

  * Nurse and Musician- Roommate 3 took off their jacket and left it at the table when people started dying. They could have gone missing then. (maybe)

  * Florist and Doctor noticed that they were wearing cufflinks originally. Only helpful if the Roommates chose to lie. 

***-Give time for speculation-***

Final Scene 

The TA has the wallet/notebook of the author on them. In it is their passcode for their laptop. 

  * The TA drops a notebook. There is math in it that reveals the laptop code. 

-TA- You can lie as to why you have it. You thought it could be a clue and grabbed it, but didn’t know how math problems were helpful

The group finds whats on the laptop

**An open document: **

“ One of the characters might be on to me. … someone tried to burn down my house. A charred clump of paper with biblical quotes or something on it was found in my house. This could be evidence or a message” 

  


***-Give time for speculation-*** 

  


**In another document: **

  


Info on everyone, how they met their partners.

“FUTURE PLANS: 

The TA was going to get fired and not get their degree. They lost some valuable religious texts and were suspected of stealing. 

The Accident Prone Partner was going to get in a really bad car accident and get amnesia. That accident also involved the Tattoo Artist’s motorcycle, who would be miraculously fine. 

The mob boss was going to be given a pardon and retire. 

The musician was about to get semi-famous. 

The professor was about to get tenure.”

***-Give a lot of time for speculation-***

The police arrive and take either the murderer, or everyone’s statement and they all go home. 


	3. Props

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here is the coffee shop logo and menu I used.

[Google Slides Link](https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1h0K6XWmRmEvHs0fu0dgp6ttFrfZe0OLN9W-rtB37klQ/edit#slide=id.g5b246e57b6_0_15)

I created a banner and menu for the coffee shop. I also made fake knives (a chefs knife for the murder weapon, and knives for the mob boss) out of foam board. 


End file.
